Coin and letter holder for rural-route boxes.



w. E. AYERS.

COIN AND LETTER HOLDER FOR RURAL ROUTE BOXES.

APPLICATION FILED MAB. 15,1910.

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976,335. Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

WILLIS E. AYERS, 0F SALEM, OHIO.

COIN AND LETTER HOLDER FOR RURAL-ROUTE BOXES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

Application filed March 15, 1910. Serial No. 549,557.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIS E. AYERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Salem, in the county of Columbiana and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Coin and Letter Holder for Rural-Route Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improved money and letter holder adapted to be attached to any of the rural mail boxes now in common use and comprises a money-holder, the bottom of which tilts for easy emptying, and which carries on each side clips to receive the mail to be collected, so that the carrier may collect the mail matter and operate the tilting bottom with a single movement of one hand, and which also carries on its front a clip for the order for postal supplies.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which is a perspective view of my device. 1

The receptacle A is made of a single piece of sheet metal bent to form a rectangular casing open at top and bottom. Tongues B are cut from each side of this casing to form clips to hold the mail to be collected, and in the front of the casingis cut a similar tongue C forming a clip in which the box owner may insert his order for supplies. The bottom E of the receptacle is pivoted at G to the side walls of the casing, and at its rear edge carries a flap D, which serves as a counterweight to keep the bottom normally closed, and also serves when touched by the fingers of the carrier, as a handle to tilt the bottom and dump the contents of the receptacle into the palm of the carriers hand. The back of the casing A carries an extension F in which is an opening for a fastener to secure my device to the mail box. To attach the device to the top of a box with an open end, the projection F may be turned at a right angle to the back of the casing.

In the operation of my device, the owner of the box will insert the mail to be collected in one of the clips B, a memorandum of the supplies he needs in the clip C and the money to pay for the same in the receptacle. When the carrier inserts his hand in the box, the mail is ready to be grasped between his finger and thumb, while his other fingers tilt the bottom of the receptacle and dump the money into the palm of his hand, and the order for supplies is clearly before him.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is 1. A coin and letter holder having a discharge opening at its bottom, a closure for said opening and a spring clip upon the side of the holder, the parts so arranged that the mail matter inserted in the clip may be grasped between the thumb and forefinger of the letter-carriers hand, while the closure is manipulated by the other fingers of said hand to discharge the contents of the holder.

2. A coin and letter holder formed from a single piece of sheet material bent to form an open-ended rectangular casing, a tongue struck from the side of said casing to form a spring clip, a bottom eccentrically pivoted in said casing and having an extension which serves as a counterweight to hold said bottom closed and also as a hand-piece to manipulate said bottom, the clip being so placed in relation to the hand-piece that mail matter inserted in the clip may be grasped by the thumb and forefinger of the hand of a letter carrier, while the hand-piece is manipulated by the other fingers of said hand to discharge the contents of the holder.

WILLIS E. AYERS.

Witnesses:

L. B. HARRIS, ANNA TROTTER. 

